note from my boss concerning the day's thunderstorms. . .
there is a japanese old tale to be careful not to have a navel stolen when thunder sounds. please be careful.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Thursday, August 24, 2006
brief update. . . more later. . .
i have been insanely bored at work since my return from korea almost two weeks ago (yes, i plan to post a blog about that in the near future. . . just haven't been in much of a blog-writing mood). . . anyway. . . random stuff. . .
i've been here (in japan. . .kahoku) for over a year now, and these messages from my supervisor still crack me up. . .
it is cut off a dormitory from 1:00p.m. of august 30 to 5:00p.m. please be careful about the contents of a refrigerator. ice cream melts.
translation, i will not have electricity for four hours next wednesday. . . the part i love is that my supervisor still types his messages into the online yahoo translator (which comes up with translations like the one above) and prints them out on little half pieces of paper. . . and then stands next to my desk as i attempt to translate it into real english. . . i also love that he always includes the oh so caring details like. . . "ice cream melts" . . .
in other news, i recently paid for my shakken (car inspection) and next year’s insurance. . . the guy came to pick up the money (really nice guy and he did give me a slight discount on everything but still). . . i just glared at him the entire time i was handing over the money. . . it makes it worse that they do everything in cash here. . . i had to stand there and count out all 148,000 yen. . . and i was doing so well saving my money. . . :(
hmmm. . .it's 3:10 and my iced coffee and two little pieces of chocolate have not yet arrived at my desk. . . not sure where the office lady responsible for that went (yes, it is always a lady. . .). . . anyway, i feel a bit lost without my 3:00 snack time. . . kind of like a kindergartner entering the realities of first grade. . . is that when you lose nap time??
oh, found this in the news the other day. . . always nice to see my home state in the news. . . a little piece of kansas culture to share with my community in japan. . .
** u.s. police chase naked man **
a burglary suspect in kansas tried to evade capture by jumping in a river and taking his clothes off.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/nolavconsole/ifs_news/hi?redirect=st.stm&news=1&bbram=1&bbwm=1&nbram=1&nbwm=1&nol_storyid=4797803
i've been here (in japan. . .kahoku) for over a year now, and these messages from my supervisor still crack me up. . .
it is cut off a dormitory from 1:00p.m. of august 30 to 5:00p.m. please be careful about the contents of a refrigerator. ice cream melts.
translation, i will not have electricity for four hours next wednesday. . . the part i love is that my supervisor still types his messages into the online yahoo translator (which comes up with translations like the one above) and prints them out on little half pieces of paper. . . and then stands next to my desk as i attempt to translate it into real english. . . i also love that he always includes the oh so caring details like. . . "ice cream melts" . . .
in other news, i recently paid for my shakken (car inspection) and next year’s insurance. . . the guy came to pick up the money (really nice guy and he did give me a slight discount on everything but still). . . i just glared at him the entire time i was handing over the money. . . it makes it worse that they do everything in cash here. . . i had to stand there and count out all 148,000 yen. . . and i was doing so well saving my money. . . :(
hmmm. . .it's 3:10 and my iced coffee and two little pieces of chocolate have not yet arrived at my desk. . . not sure where the office lady responsible for that went (yes, it is always a lady. . .). . . anyway, i feel a bit lost without my 3:00 snack time. . . kind of like a kindergartner entering the realities of first grade. . . is that when you lose nap time??
oh, found this in the news the other day. . . always nice to see my home state in the news. . . a little piece of kansas culture to share with my community in japan. . .
** u.s. police chase naked man **
a burglary suspect in kansas tried to evade capture by jumping in a river and taking his clothes off.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/nolavconsole/ifs_news/hi?redirect=st.stm&news=1&bbram=1&bbwm=1&nbram=1&nbwm=1&nol_storyid=4797803
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
driving, dance, and my second pet cockroach. . .
i got my japanese driver’s license on monday!!! you have no idea how exciting that is. . . my international license was only valid for one year (as is everyone else’s from every country in the world). . . however, while australians, brits, canadians, etc. are only required to take the eye test (maybe written test?) and sit through a thirty minute lecture (all thirty minutes were translated to me as “drive safely”), americans are required to take a driving test as well. . . from all prior reports, the driving test is hell. . . only one person had passed it on her first try. . . i know of one who passed on her second try (mainly because she knew some retired cop who put in a good word for her). . . and everyone else i know passed somewhere between their sixth and tenth attempt. . .
monday, i went to the driving center (without sayaka, my trusty translator, as i had a theory that the foreigners who wowed the guys with their japanese would pass more quickly). . . they have you do a written test (so easy. . . six minutes, ten questions, true or false, yes they had an english translation) and an eye test before you have the honor of trying the road test. . .the eye test is where i managed to charm the guys ;) . . . i was trying to do everything in japanese, but with the color blindness test, i was afraid that if i didn’t respond quickly, they would fail me, so. . . my responses came out as follows: yellow, blue, 赤 (aka=red). . . the two guys in the testing room apparently found this english/japanese mix hilarious. . . brownie points always help. . .
hell began after the two initial exams. . . at eleven o’clock, i entered a classroom with eight other people (six japanese guys, one vietnamese guy, one indonesian girl – who has been trying, and failing, to get her license for six months but comes back and tries again almost every day –, and me). . . we had to draw for the courses (A,B, or C), all three of which i had memorized the night before (along with three hours of studying and a practice run on the miniature streets of japan in tsuyoshi’s monster car – which is actually just an suv type vehicle. . . but compared to my minica, well. . .) . . .anyway, the vietnamese guy drew courses for the foreigners. . . he somehow managed to draw course A, the most difficult of the three. . .
when the officers came out at one o’clock, guess who i got. . . one of the officers from my eye test earlier in the day. . . a definite miracle. . .
quite honestly, my driving on the test was wretched. . . you have to do a million head checks and say “よし” every time you look anywhere. . . seeing as how my high school drivers ed instructor yelled at me for not doing enough head checks, i was certain i would fail on at least that one point (therefore i was looking everywhere. . . but not actually seeing a thing due to nerves). . . if you look at the following website http://www.geocities.com/fbgrable/driving.html you will have a better idea of what i was going through. . . the head checks, s curves, crank turns, lane changes, etc. etc. . . . all basics of driving, but japanese people have these systems and like things to be precise. . . that and, if you read the site, the driving test is more about taking the japanese system seriously. . . respect for people, details, perfection, the system itself. . .if you are ten centimeters too far left in your lane, you can fail. . . same goes for the right. . . if you turn your blinker on 25 meters before the turn and not 30, you can fail. . . it’s crazy and terrifying. . .to me anyway. . .
but. . . the point is, i drive better daily on real roads. . . my head checks were late, my turns were too wide, i even took both hands off the wheel at one point (when i stopped to wait for another car – not while moving), which is an automatic fail in most cases. . . on real roads, i would have killed four or five old people on motorbikes because my head checks were late, as in i was mid-turn when i remembered to check my blind spots. . . on most days for most people, i would have failed for all the mistakes listed above. . .but somehow, miraculously, i passed, on my first try. . . the officer actually thought i was a good driver (despite the flaws listed above which he did point out). . . i was in shock. . . i maybe still am in shock. . . i literally checked my wallet on tuesday morning to make sure that it wasn’t a dream and the license was really there. . . it was. . . it is. . .with the 2 points against me for my speeding ticket back in april. . . another reason i thought they would never give me my license. . . as long as i don’t continue speeding, hit a pedestrian, or run into the japanese mafia, i can drive in japan until december 2008. . .yay. . .
so. . .that was a bit lengthy. . . in other news. . . i will be leaving for the korean dance festival this friday, july 28th and will return to japan on saturday, august 12th. . . while i have a lot to report about dance, i will wait until after my trip. . . i can’t believe i am finally, actually going to korea. . . i’m guessing sangmee can’t believe it either :) i’ve been talking about it for such a long time. . . anyway, here’s the link to the festival website if you are interested. . . http://moderndance.co.kr/
finally, my second pet cockroach. . . i found him in my bathroom after dance one evening and screamed (probably waking everyone in the dormitory). . . he was fairly small and still kind of a brownish color (the big, old, scary ones are black. . .you may ask how i survive in rural japan. . . most days, i do not know). . . anyway, he was too fast for me to kill. . . after a night of bug nightmares and a few too many jokes from the teachers about how cockroaches like to creep around the house at night, i bought some little sticky traps (like the ones for mice only smaller –cockroach sized). . . almost every home in japan (or at least kochi) has cockroaches in the summer. . . the tv commercials show these adorable little cartoon cockroaches eating poison and taking it back to share with their families and then all dying together in their little home (which of course is somewhere within your home). . . my traps were really just about as sad. . . the glue traps are not simply sticky glue with food in the center but carefully designed cockroach houses. . . white house, red roof, shutter entrances, mats on each end for the poor thing to wipe its feet on (so it has nice clean feet when it touches the glue). . . no joke. . . it looks like a little play house for bugs. . . it kind of makes me want to cry – like the time i wouldn’t eat my mickey mouse pancake (only then i was like three years old). . . but really, why do they have to make things so cute? it feels ten times more cruel than just putting out an ugly patch of glue. . . at least from my end. . . suppose the cockroach doesn’t really know the difference as he dies either way. . .
anyway. . . that’s all i have to report for now. . . i still have pictures from kyoto and kobe and random events around kochi that i need to post. . . if i haven’t already forgotten the details (although it may be lucky for you if i have). . . how do these blogs get so long?
one last thing. . . my supervisor is currently reviewing the japanese procedure for cpr on an imaginary person in the boe office. . . he’s worried that his wording will be off. . . suppose he will fail his test for the emergency response team or whatever they are if he changes a word . . .personally, i could care less if he says ‘please call an ambulance’ vs. ‘call 119 now’. . . i imagine most unconscious people feel the same. . . my point is, the japanese start training people on how to memorize precise procedures at the age of zero and it just gets worse from there. . .面白いですよ。 じゃあね。
BBC made a mistake and interviewed the wrong guy
**click this link for the story. . .
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/05/16/bbc.interview/index.html
**then click this link for the actual interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOnm9jZK1dU&search=bbc%20interview%20gomahttp://portal/portal/mypage/mypage.asp?UserID=10496
**don't cheat.....if you don't read the story, the video won't have any meaning
monday, i went to the driving center (without sayaka, my trusty translator, as i had a theory that the foreigners who wowed the guys with their japanese would pass more quickly). . . they have you do a written test (so easy. . . six minutes, ten questions, true or false, yes they had an english translation) and an eye test before you have the honor of trying the road test. . .the eye test is where i managed to charm the guys ;) . . . i was trying to do everything in japanese, but with the color blindness test, i was afraid that if i didn’t respond quickly, they would fail me, so. . . my responses came out as follows: yellow, blue, 赤 (aka=red). . . the two guys in the testing room apparently found this english/japanese mix hilarious. . . brownie points always help. . .
hell began after the two initial exams. . . at eleven o’clock, i entered a classroom with eight other people (six japanese guys, one vietnamese guy, one indonesian girl – who has been trying, and failing, to get her license for six months but comes back and tries again almost every day –, and me). . . we had to draw for the courses (A,B, or C), all three of which i had memorized the night before (along with three hours of studying and a practice run on the miniature streets of japan in tsuyoshi’s monster car – which is actually just an suv type vehicle. . . but compared to my minica, well. . .) . . .anyway, the vietnamese guy drew courses for the foreigners. . . he somehow managed to draw course A, the most difficult of the three. . .
when the officers came out at one o’clock, guess who i got. . . one of the officers from my eye test earlier in the day. . . a definite miracle. . .
quite honestly, my driving on the test was wretched. . . you have to do a million head checks and say “よし” every time you look anywhere. . . seeing as how my high school drivers ed instructor yelled at me for not doing enough head checks, i was certain i would fail on at least that one point (therefore i was looking everywhere. . . but not actually seeing a thing due to nerves). . . if you look at the following website http://www.geocities.com/fbgrable/driving.html you will have a better idea of what i was going through. . . the head checks, s curves, crank turns, lane changes, etc. etc. . . . all basics of driving, but japanese people have these systems and like things to be precise. . . that and, if you read the site, the driving test is more about taking the japanese system seriously. . . respect for people, details, perfection, the system itself. . .if you are ten centimeters too far left in your lane, you can fail. . . same goes for the right. . . if you turn your blinker on 25 meters before the turn and not 30, you can fail. . . it’s crazy and terrifying. . .to me anyway. . .
but. . . the point is, i drive better daily on real roads. . . my head checks were late, my turns were too wide, i even took both hands off the wheel at one point (when i stopped to wait for another car – not while moving), which is an automatic fail in most cases. . . on real roads, i would have killed four or five old people on motorbikes because my head checks were late, as in i was mid-turn when i remembered to check my blind spots. . . on most days for most people, i would have failed for all the mistakes listed above. . .but somehow, miraculously, i passed, on my first try. . . the officer actually thought i was a good driver (despite the flaws listed above which he did point out). . . i was in shock. . . i maybe still am in shock. . . i literally checked my wallet on tuesday morning to make sure that it wasn’t a dream and the license was really there. . . it was. . . it is. . .with the 2 points against me for my speeding ticket back in april. . . another reason i thought they would never give me my license. . . as long as i don’t continue speeding, hit a pedestrian, or run into the japanese mafia, i can drive in japan until december 2008. . .yay. . .
so. . .that was a bit lengthy. . . in other news. . . i will be leaving for the korean dance festival this friday, july 28th and will return to japan on saturday, august 12th. . . while i have a lot to report about dance, i will wait until after my trip. . . i can’t believe i am finally, actually going to korea. . . i’m guessing sangmee can’t believe it either :) i’ve been talking about it for such a long time. . . anyway, here’s the link to the festival website if you are interested. . . http://moderndance.co.kr/
finally, my second pet cockroach. . . i found him in my bathroom after dance one evening and screamed (probably waking everyone in the dormitory). . . he was fairly small and still kind of a brownish color (the big, old, scary ones are black. . .you may ask how i survive in rural japan. . . most days, i do not know). . . anyway, he was too fast for me to kill. . . after a night of bug nightmares and a few too many jokes from the teachers about how cockroaches like to creep around the house at night, i bought some little sticky traps (like the ones for mice only smaller –cockroach sized). . . almost every home in japan (or at least kochi) has cockroaches in the summer. . . the tv commercials show these adorable little cartoon cockroaches eating poison and taking it back to share with their families and then all dying together in their little home (which of course is somewhere within your home). . . my traps were really just about as sad. . . the glue traps are not simply sticky glue with food in the center but carefully designed cockroach houses. . . white house, red roof, shutter entrances, mats on each end for the poor thing to wipe its feet on (so it has nice clean feet when it touches the glue). . . no joke. . . it looks like a little play house for bugs. . . it kind of makes me want to cry – like the time i wouldn’t eat my mickey mouse pancake (only then i was like three years old). . . but really, why do they have to make things so cute? it feels ten times more cruel than just putting out an ugly patch of glue. . . at least from my end. . . suppose the cockroach doesn’t really know the difference as he dies either way. . .
anyway. . . that’s all i have to report for now. . . i still have pictures from kyoto and kobe and random events around kochi that i need to post. . . if i haven’t already forgotten the details (although it may be lucky for you if i have). . . how do these blogs get so long?
one last thing. . . my supervisor is currently reviewing the japanese procedure for cpr on an imaginary person in the boe office. . . he’s worried that his wording will be off. . . suppose he will fail his test for the emergency response team or whatever they are if he changes a word . . .personally, i could care less if he says ‘please call an ambulance’ vs. ‘call 119 now’. . . i imagine most unconscious people feel the same. . . my point is, the japanese start training people on how to memorize precise procedures at the age of zero and it just gets worse from there. . .面白いですよ。 じゃあね。
BBC made a mistake and interviewed the wrong guy
**click this link for the story. . .
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/05/16/bbc.interview/index.html
**then click this link for the actual interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOnm9jZK1dU&search=bbc%20interview%20gomahttp://portal/portal/mypage/mypage.asp?UserID=10496
**don't cheat.....if you don't read the story, the video won't have any meaning
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
update 3: nature and me
japan is currently in its fifth season . . . rainy season. . . quite honestly, it hasn't been what i expected. . . everyone kept preparing me for downpours every single day for a full month. . . maybe kochi just lucked out this year (so far), but, as it is almost july ( i.e. approx. the half way point of rainy season), we have only had one really heavy day of rain and several days of sprinkles. . .a normal summer in america. . . still in preparation for the season, i bought some cool golashes. . . i got them for less than $10. . . at the store, they looked like a kind of burgundy/wine color. . . once i wore them, i discovered that they were, in fact, dark pink. . . i'm pretty sure my elementary students have the same golashes. . . actually, i almost bought kid's golashes for $20 with red polka dots, but my 'pink' ones were taller i.e. more splash protection. . .anyway, i was pretty excited to try them out. however, on the first day of rainy season (the one downpour) i forgot to tuck my jeans into the top of the golashes on my walk to work (i.e. i still ended up drenched.) . . . puddle jumping was quite fun. . . sitting soaked at work was not. . . but i figure if an umbrella and golashes won't keep me dry, i may as well have some fun.
anyway. . . it is finally summer in japan. unfortunately, my air conditioner is broken. . . i informed my supervisor of this a week and a half ago, two people came to check it at the end of last week, another guy came yesterday (i thought he came to fix it, but he really just did another more thorough inspection). . . guess it is going to be really expensive to fix as there is a hole in he 'gas pipe' (don't know if that's really what it is or the best english translation they could figure out). . . my supervisor said that the board of education would pay for it. . . the only catch is that they don't have much money now. . . so, in the hottest part of the year, i am stuck in my house (which is a good five degrees above the outdoor temp) without air conditioning for another one to two weeks. . . i am not at all happy. . . it is so flipping hot. . . every time i use the fan i start sneezing like crazy. . . i have to keep the windows/doors open at night (and even that doesn't cool the place down for too long). . . the worst consequence of all this is that all these bugs are sneaking into my room. . . have i ever mentioned that kochi has poisonous centipedes? i think even my fear of spiders is lower than my fear of centipedes. . . i don't know what the bugs are that i have found so far, but i do not like them. . . i am not that much of a nature girl. . . especially not when i am in my house (camping, hiking, etc. are a bit of a different story). . . so between the heat, the allergies, and the bugs, i have literally not been able to sleep for the past week. . . i am miserable. . .on top of that, they never use the air conditioner at the schools or the board of education. . . the one day they did have it on in the b.o.e. was monday. . . the coolest day we have had in the past month. . . what kind of logic do these people use???? (quick update here. . . i decided it was getting a bit too hot in the office when i was sweating just from sitting at my desk, so i removed my little jacket. . . leaving me in only a tank top, which appears to be against the dress code although i have never been given any verbal instructions in that area. . . anyway, after approx. 45 seconds two of the ladies in the office closed all the windows and turned on the air con! guess that's one way to fix things. ;)
next. . .earthquakes. . .feeling your house shake and having your friend call and speak japanese is not an easy way to wake up at 5a.m. that, however, is exactly how i experienced my first earthquake. . . technically, i think there was a small one once before while i was on tour with genki. . . they tend to happen at night, so i just don't wake up. . . the one a few weeks ago was a level 3 in kochi (level 5 at its center in oita), which you would think would be strong enough to wake me. . . i am not a heavy sleeper when it comes to sound and light (in fact, i think i'm usually the first one up then). . . but i guess i've slept in too many bunk beds with roommates who toss and turn or something because my house shaking (without the phone call) would not have been enough to wake me up. if you want to know more, here is the article from the bbc. . .
i really do think japanese people (or at least those that live in the inaka) have a different take on nature. . . tsuyoshi once stopped me from destroying a spider web because he (the spider) had his own spider life in his own spider world and was not a part of my world and not causing any immediate danger to me. . . my elementary school kids have over ten cages with bugs and whatnots as pets ranging from beetles to frogs to crabs to slugs to numerous bugs, amphibians, etc, etc that i could not even begin to name. . . they keep pulling them out of their cages and trying to hand them to me. . . the frogs are okay. . . the rest are a bit sketchy. . . anyway, i suppose that concludes my update on the wonderful outdoors in kochi that have a tendency to make their way indoors just a bit too often. . .if the weather is nice on saturday, i am going hiking/camping with the entire junior high school (over 100 students plus staff). . . should be an adventure.
じゃあ、おわり。
anyway. . . it is finally summer in japan. unfortunately, my air conditioner is broken. . . i informed my supervisor of this a week and a half ago, two people came to check it at the end of last week, another guy came yesterday (i thought he came to fix it, but he really just did another more thorough inspection). . . guess it is going to be really expensive to fix as there is a hole in he 'gas pipe' (don't know if that's really what it is or the best english translation they could figure out). . . my supervisor said that the board of education would pay for it. . . the only catch is that they don't have much money now. . . so, in the hottest part of the year, i am stuck in my house (which is a good five degrees above the outdoor temp) without air conditioning for another one to two weeks. . . i am not at all happy. . . it is so flipping hot. . . every time i use the fan i start sneezing like crazy. . . i have to keep the windows/doors open at night (and even that doesn't cool the place down for too long). . . the worst consequence of all this is that all these bugs are sneaking into my room. . . have i ever mentioned that kochi has poisonous centipedes? i think even my fear of spiders is lower than my fear of centipedes. . . i don't know what the bugs are that i have found so far, but i do not like them. . . i am not that much of a nature girl. . . especially not when i am in my house (camping, hiking, etc. are a bit of a different story). . . so between the heat, the allergies, and the bugs, i have literally not been able to sleep for the past week. . . i am miserable. . .on top of that, they never use the air conditioner at the schools or the board of education. . . the one day they did have it on in the b.o.e. was monday. . . the coolest day we have had in the past month. . . what kind of logic do these people use???? (quick update here. . . i decided it was getting a bit too hot in the office when i was sweating just from sitting at my desk, so i removed my little jacket. . . leaving me in only a tank top, which appears to be against the dress code although i have never been given any verbal instructions in that area. . . anyway, after approx. 45 seconds two of the ladies in the office closed all the windows and turned on the air con! guess that's one way to fix things. ;)
next. . .earthquakes. . .feeling your house shake and having your friend call and speak japanese is not an easy way to wake up at 5a.m. that, however, is exactly how i experienced my first earthquake. . . technically, i think there was a small one once before while i was on tour with genki. . . they tend to happen at night, so i just don't wake up. . . the one a few weeks ago was a level 3 in kochi (level 5 at its center in oita), which you would think would be strong enough to wake me. . . i am not a heavy sleeper when it comes to sound and light (in fact, i think i'm usually the first one up then). . . but i guess i've slept in too many bunk beds with roommates who toss and turn or something because my house shaking (without the phone call) would not have been enough to wake me up. if you want to know more, here is the article from the bbc. . .
*quake strikes south-western japan *
a strong earthquake hits south-western japan, shaking the city of hiroshima and injuring five people.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/5070390.stm
i really do think japanese people (or at least those that live in the inaka) have a different take on nature. . . tsuyoshi once stopped me from destroying a spider web because he (the spider) had his own spider life in his own spider world and was not a part of my world and not causing any immediate danger to me. . . my elementary school kids have over ten cages with bugs and whatnots as pets ranging from beetles to frogs to crabs to slugs to numerous bugs, amphibians, etc, etc that i could not even begin to name. . . they keep pulling them out of their cages and trying to hand them to me. . . the frogs are okay. . . the rest are a bit sketchy. . . anyway, i suppose that concludes my update on the wonderful outdoors in kochi that have a tendency to make their way indoors just a bit too often. . .if the weather is nice on saturday, i am going hiking/camping with the entire junior high school (over 100 students plus staff). . . should be an adventure.
じゃあ、おわり。
Sunday, June 11, 2006
update 2: GENKI 青年会
anyway, i think you may enjoy pictures of the show more than my babbling. . . let’s enjoying. . .
we were the three choreographers/dancing girls. . . the first and only time i will wear a cheerleading uniform
samurai soul with doc (先生) and dopey
grumpy choking on mochi at sunday market
lord nagabana (long nose) and yamauchi with his newly purchased camel. . . the formation of the 内密特別駱駝騎兵隊 (super secret camel calvary division)
one of our dances was called 'my humps'. . . absolutely wretched song. . . but it worked well with the egyptian camel theme. . . did i mention the other two choreographers are hip hop dancers?
and the finale. . . with cheese smiles and jazz hands
update 1: dance
よし, my last full blog mentioned my numerous dance opportunities. . . all of which were amazing. . .except maybe my life/death solos, which i never felt i fully understood. . .
first, afro-fusion with vincent. . . i have a sort of love/ hate thing for african dance classes, the music and movements are always absolutely gorgeous. . . unfortunately for me, i have rather limited torso movement as well as limited abilities when it comes to keeping five rhythms at the same time on different body parts. . . vincent’s class was the first african dance class that i have taken over a period of several days, which made a huge difference. . . by the last day, i felt like i was actually starting to catch some of the rhythms and loosen up a bit. . . we’ll see how i do a year from now when he returns. :)
vincent was also the first person who made me realize how at home i have become in japan. . . i realized this at the party the studio had right before his workshop began. . . it was the first time i had been with a foreigner in japan who was not in my position (completely immersed in the culture for an extended period of time). . . i found myself translating comments for him as well as for the japanese speakers. . . i was also able to explain certain foods and traditions . . . most days i feel like i’m not learning enough and definitely not learning it fast enough to keep up with daily life. . . but this experience made a huge difference. . . to realize just how much i really do understand . . . the translating was the fun part for me, as i am rarely in a position to do that . . (a lot of the other alts speak japanese. . . especially the ones from australia). . .right. . . so, dance experience number one was great. . . onto the next. . .
over golden week (beginning of may), i attended a series of workshops in kyoto. . . in general, i wasn’t that impressed. . . the dancers were so-so, as well as some of the instructors. . .thankfully, my teacher in kochi filled me in on some of the classes in advance, so i did end up taking from two pretty amazing people. . . one was keith thompson, who ironically enough was one of the founding members of zennon dance company in minneapolis (about forty-five minutes from st. olaf). he later moved on to dance with the trisha brown dance company and now teaches at temple university, has his own dance company that is to premier in nyc in the near future, and travels the world doing workshops. . . we got along quite well. . . if i can actually manage to write consistent emails, he will be an excellent contact for the future. . . the other teacher that i really enjoyed was jung young-doo from korea. whenever i get going and get over to seoul to visit sangmee, i hope to meet up with jung young-doo again and do a bit of dancing. . . while keith’s style was kind of the current style of american modern dance that i had experienced in college, jung’s style was very different. we rarely used music. . . he was the calmest dancer i have ever met. . . and he was always very clear with his direction and focus. it brought back a lot of memories from susan’s classes at olaf, experimenting with weight and focus and direction. . . maybe that’s why i did so well. . . whatever it was, i really felt my confidence grow at the workshops. . .
two kind of sidenotes. . .
first, a conversation with jung after class:
j: “what are you doing in japan?”
e: “i’m teaching english.”
j: “really, i think you are dancer.”
e: “no, i really want to be, but i’m not.”
j: “how old are you?”
e: “twenty-three.”
j: “oh, you have no problem. you are young. i do not think you are english teacher. i think you are dancer.”
so, that was the first time a professional dancer had ever called me a dancer. . . pretty exciting i thought.
second, my conversation with the professional clown who was staying at the same backpackers hotel as me:
e: “i’d like to be a professional dancer, but i’m not.”
c: “why not? just quit your job. . . then you’ll be a professional dancer.”
i found that rather amusing. . . he was a cool guy. . . originally from australia, now living in south africa. . . but mostly just traveling the world being a clown (more of a street performer than a clown. . . no makeup. . . lots of acrobatic tricks). . . he also told me how he took ballet classes for one or two years in college(?) but got kicked out of class everyday. . . miraculously, the teacher let him back in every morning. . . guess he got bored with the structure involved in ballet. . . too monotonous for him.
okay, moving on. . . if my mental calendar of events is correct, my next dance report is uchiyama tokei’s dance theatre. . . a.k.a. martha graham and my life/death solos. . . which someone later translated for me as sky or earth, which is insanely different from life and death. . . not much to say here. . . it went well. . . no major mistakes. . . people said i was beautiful, captivating (think they used the thesaurus for that one), etc. . . tsuyoshi’s comment was simply that i was almost naked (if your not used to dance, i suppose a leotard with a see through shirt and skirt is the equivalent of almost naked. . .after the nude unitards we had to wear for waterstudy, nothing seems to bother me too much). . . it just wasn’t really my style of dance. . . i couldn’t really feel the movements, and the music always felt too overpowering for the dance. . . anyway, that is over. . . i am supposed to be in another performance in november (as a queen of something. . . wish i understood more japanese at times), but i think i may have another dance performance with my other studio that weekend. . . yikes. . .
ahhh. . .almost done with the dance update. . . finally, christopher (the former ailey soloist) returned to teach four days of workshops (one of which i had to miss to teach my community class. . . so, so, so, so sad). . . not much to say here other than christopher is amazing. . . that and the comment that came out of it from my japanese instructor. . . he injured his calf on the last day and had to sit out and watch the last part of the workshop. . . afterwards he came up to me. . . “i was watching you. you know you have improved so much. . .especially learning movements. i remember when you first came into my class. it was always like ‘ahhh’.” a few days later, he asked me to join his yosakoi team, which has been invited to perform as special guests at the yosakoi festival in osaka my birthday weekend (mid-november). . . travel/hotel expenses paid. . . sounds like the ideal birthday celebration to me. . . we’ll do four or five dances, ranging from more traditional to somewhat jazzy. . . rehearsals start this friday. . . exciting, huh?
so, i guess i’ll stop there with the dance events. . . the amount of dance opportunities and connections i have made here is really miraculous. . . i really do not think i would have survived more than two months without dance. . . my jazz teacher has been the most amazing person. he’s the one with all the connections (afro-fusion, christopher, noism, etc.). . . he said that the studio goes into the red every time they bring in a guest instructor, but he wants people to have the experience of working with professional dancers. . . so amazing.
okay, dinner time. . . this may be the only blog i get out today. . . i'll keep working on my other reports. . . soon, i hope. . .ごめんね
first, afro-fusion with vincent. . . i have a sort of love/ hate thing for african dance classes, the music and movements are always absolutely gorgeous. . . unfortunately for me, i have rather limited torso movement as well as limited abilities when it comes to keeping five rhythms at the same time on different body parts. . . vincent’s class was the first african dance class that i have taken over a period of several days, which made a huge difference. . . by the last day, i felt like i was actually starting to catch some of the rhythms and loosen up a bit. . . we’ll see how i do a year from now when he returns. :)
vincent was also the first person who made me realize how at home i have become in japan. . . i realized this at the party the studio had right before his workshop began. . . it was the first time i had been with a foreigner in japan who was not in my position (completely immersed in the culture for an extended period of time). . . i found myself translating comments for him as well as for the japanese speakers. . . i was also able to explain certain foods and traditions . . . most days i feel like i’m not learning enough and definitely not learning it fast enough to keep up with daily life. . . but this experience made a huge difference. . . to realize just how much i really do understand . . . the translating was the fun part for me, as i am rarely in a position to do that . . (a lot of the other alts speak japanese. . . especially the ones from australia). . .right. . . so, dance experience number one was great. . . onto the next. . .
over golden week (beginning of may), i attended a series of workshops in kyoto. . . in general, i wasn’t that impressed. . . the dancers were so-so, as well as some of the instructors. . .thankfully, my teacher in kochi filled me in on some of the classes in advance, so i did end up taking from two pretty amazing people. . . one was keith thompson, who ironically enough was one of the founding members of zennon dance company in minneapolis (about forty-five minutes from st. olaf). he later moved on to dance with the trisha brown dance company and now teaches at temple university, has his own dance company that is to premier in nyc in the near future, and travels the world doing workshops. . . we got along quite well. . . if i can actually manage to write consistent emails, he will be an excellent contact for the future. . . the other teacher that i really enjoyed was jung young-doo from korea. whenever i get going and get over to seoul to visit sangmee, i hope to meet up with jung young-doo again and do a bit of dancing. . . while keith’s style was kind of the current style of american modern dance that i had experienced in college, jung’s style was very different. we rarely used music. . . he was the calmest dancer i have ever met. . . and he was always very clear with his direction and focus. it brought back a lot of memories from susan’s classes at olaf, experimenting with weight and focus and direction. . . maybe that’s why i did so well. . . whatever it was, i really felt my confidence grow at the workshops. . .
two kind of sidenotes. . .
first, a conversation with jung after class:
j: “what are you doing in japan?”
e: “i’m teaching english.”
j: “really, i think you are dancer.”
e: “no, i really want to be, but i’m not.”
j: “how old are you?”
e: “twenty-three.”
j: “oh, you have no problem. you are young. i do not think you are english teacher. i think you are dancer.”
so, that was the first time a professional dancer had ever called me a dancer. . . pretty exciting i thought.
second, my conversation with the professional clown who was staying at the same backpackers hotel as me:
e: “i’d like to be a professional dancer, but i’m not.”
c: “why not? just quit your job. . . then you’ll be a professional dancer.”
i found that rather amusing. . . he was a cool guy. . . originally from australia, now living in south africa. . . but mostly just traveling the world being a clown (more of a street performer than a clown. . . no makeup. . . lots of acrobatic tricks). . . he also told me how he took ballet classes for one or two years in college(?) but got kicked out of class everyday. . . miraculously, the teacher let him back in every morning. . . guess he got bored with the structure involved in ballet. . . too monotonous for him.
okay, moving on. . . if my mental calendar of events is correct, my next dance report is uchiyama tokei’s dance theatre. . . a.k.a. martha graham and my life/death solos. . . which someone later translated for me as sky or earth, which is insanely different from life and death. . . not much to say here. . . it went well. . . no major mistakes. . . people said i was beautiful, captivating (think they used the thesaurus for that one), etc. . . tsuyoshi’s comment was simply that i was almost naked (if your not used to dance, i suppose a leotard with a see through shirt and skirt is the equivalent of almost naked. . .after the nude unitards we had to wear for waterstudy, nothing seems to bother me too much). . . it just wasn’t really my style of dance. . . i couldn’t really feel the movements, and the music always felt too overpowering for the dance. . . anyway, that is over. . . i am supposed to be in another performance in november (as a queen of something. . . wish i understood more japanese at times), but i think i may have another dance performance with my other studio that weekend. . . yikes. . .
ahhh. . .almost done with the dance update. . . finally, christopher (the former ailey soloist) returned to teach four days of workshops (one of which i had to miss to teach my community class. . . so, so, so, so sad). . . not much to say here other than christopher is amazing. . . that and the comment that came out of it from my japanese instructor. . . he injured his calf on the last day and had to sit out and watch the last part of the workshop. . . afterwards he came up to me. . . “i was watching you. you know you have improved so much. . .especially learning movements. i remember when you first came into my class. it was always like ‘ahhh’.” a few days later, he asked me to join his yosakoi team, which has been invited to perform as special guests at the yosakoi festival in osaka my birthday weekend (mid-november). . . travel/hotel expenses paid. . . sounds like the ideal birthday celebration to me. . . we’ll do four or five dances, ranging from more traditional to somewhat jazzy. . . rehearsals start this friday. . . exciting, huh?
so, i guess i’ll stop there with the dance events. . . the amount of dance opportunities and connections i have made here is really miraculous. . . i really do not think i would have survived more than two months without dance. . . my jazz teacher has been the most amazing person. he’s the one with all the connections (afro-fusion, christopher, noism, etc.). . . he said that the studio goes into the red every time they bring in a guest instructor, but he wants people to have the experience of working with professional dancers. . . so amazing.
okay, dinner time. . . this may be the only blog i get out today. . . i'll keep working on my other reports. . . soon, i hope. . .ごめんね
Friday, June 09, 2006
fyi. . .
part 1. . .
i am not dead (although i may be close at times). . .
nor have i fallen off the face of the earth (although –depending on your current location - i may be on the other side of it). . .
part 2. . .
things i love about life. . .
dance
children
spontaneity
things i do not love about life. . .
systems
control
people in the systems who control me by way of my schedule
luckily, the things i love typically weigh at least ten kilograms more than the things that i do not love. . . quite often more than ten. . .
more to come later. . . yes, i promise. . . possibly this saturday or sunday (my time). . .
in case you have forgotten who this blog belongs to, please view the following picture. . .
it was taken over a month ago in kyoto at kiyomizu temple. . . i have since gotten a haircut. . . oh, i would be the アメリカ人 (american).
i am not dead (although i may be close at times). . .
nor have i fallen off the face of the earth (although –depending on your current location - i may be on the other side of it). . .
part 2. . .
things i love about life. . .
dance
children
spontaneity
things i do not love about life. . .
systems
control
people in the systems who control me by way of my schedule
luckily, the things i love typically weigh at least ten kilograms more than the things that i do not love. . . quite often more than ten. . .
more to come later. . . yes, i promise. . . possibly this saturday or sunday (my time). . .
in case you have forgotten who this blog belongs to, please view the following picture. . .
it was taken over a month ago in kyoto at kiyomizu temple. . . i have since gotten a haircut. . . oh, i would be the アメリカ人 (american).
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